Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-05-07
A BURNING QUESTION.

Union, have been so long living
under the license system, as it relates
to intoxicants, that they have come
TO believe there is an inherent right
in the institution of government, by
which the system is sustained. II
is regarded as an innovation upon a
sacred custom to question the policy
OF license, and an abridgement OF
some natural immunity, which in,
heres in the organization of society.
1t is custom so hoary with age; so
sanctified by the usage of genera
lions past, that to invade it, is con.
sidered little less than iconaclism,
and an offense against crystalized
traditions which have come down to
us from our forefathers with some.
thing like a divine prerogative.-
The meaning of the distinction be.
tween license to sell liquors and the
license to transact any other kind of
business is never thought of. The
inquiry is scarcely ever made as to
what is intended in the precautions
the law throws around liquor license
to advertise it as dangerous priv
ilege, which are absent in almost
every other kind of traffic. These
precautions as much as say the
State is assuming a serious respon.
sibility when it gives its sanction to
a privilege that is liable to abuse,
and to inflict serious harm upon
community. Yet this grave view of
the question is rarely ever referred
to; nor is the inquiry pressed
whether the State has the right to
license thing that has in it so
many sources Of injury to the body
polite, and so little of advantage to-
commend it. 1t is a privilege, in
volving public policy that affects the
general welfare, for the conserva-
ton of which government was in
Stituted. And it is only as means
of providing revenue that the State
should possibly recognize it. If it
cannot be demonstrated to be an es-
Sential devisement to preserve the
life of the State and promote the
general good, it cannot be defended
at all. In every other respect the
dagger growing out of it, is palpable,
indisputable, terrible. If it can be
shown that the costs to the State, in
the prosecution of the crimes it en-
tails, the loss to the Commonwealth
of the labor and brains of those
whose usefulness becomes impaired
by reason of the temptation which
the license system offers; the ex.
pense it imposes for the support of
those made paupers by the use of
liquor: the retardment of legiti-
mate business, on account of the
withdrawal from the channels of
trade of the money paid for drink,
and other sources of loss to the
Commonwealth, aggregate greater
sum than the amount of license for
the privilege of selling liquors, then
there is not the semblance of an
argument to sustain the policy.
If the licence system is a failure
as means of revenue-and when
both sides of the question are ex
amined impartially, such it will be
found-then the inquiry comes up,
has the State the right to give its
sanction to policy that so directly
and intimately relates to the we'll
being of the people and from the
very nature of the traffic it author
ICES, necessarily affects them lnjur.
iously? The answer must be, from
every sound thinker, that it has not.
What right has the State to legalize
temptation to the youth of the
country, which experience has prov
en- has wrought out the wreck and
ruin of so many of the brightest of
intellects has deprived community
of the talent and energies of those
endowed with capacities for useful
ness, and which, if not perverted by
the invitation and agency of the
State, would contribute to the adj
vancement Of civilization, the eleva-
ton of the moral tone of society, and
the betterment of the condition of
mankind.
We have chosen to call attention
to this grave matter, at this time,
when the popular mind is free from
excitement, and in a condition to re-
ceive and ponder facts and argu.
ments. 1t is question that is Ger.
tain to come up for legislative ac-
ton. This the people will demand.
And it is to invite the calm, deliber-
ate thought and conscientious con-
sideration of the voters of the Com
monwealth that we have referred to
1t. By some it may be regarded as
out of place at this time, by others
as inappropriate to the columns of a
party journal. To these collectors,
if such there be, we say that the
welfare OF the people and the moral
growth and health of the State, are
at all times proper interests to dis
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